Chapter 4 - The House Adrian Bought Without Ever Telling Me
Paige's childhood home stood at the end of a tree-lined road outside Savannah.
The house looked exactly as she remembered.
White columns.
Green shutters.
A wide front porch where her father had taught her to ride a bicycle.
She stepped from the car and nearly cried.
Adrian came around the other side.
“You remember.”
“Yes.”
“You haven't been here since you were seventeen.”
“My mother couldn't afford it after my father died.”
“She thought she lost it.”
Paige turned.
“You bought it.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Through a trust.”
She frowned.
“What trust?”
“Your father's.”
Again, a secret.
Again, Adrian had known.
But this time, Paige did not immediately become angry.
She was beginning to understand the pattern.
He had spent years protecting things without telling her.
It was still infuriating.
But it was no longer simple.
They entered the house.
Everything was clean.
Not renovated.
Preserved.
Paige touched the staircase.
“You kept it like this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at her.
“Because your father said you would come back one day.”
They walked through the rooms.
Her old bedroom still had pale yellow wallpaper.
Her childhood books remained on the shelves.
A stuffed rabbit sat on the bed.
Paige picked it up.
“You kept my toys.”
“Mrs. Porter handled the house.”
“You have people preserving my childhood.”
“Yes.”
She laughed softly.
“That may be the strangest sentence I've ever heard.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Then Paige noticed a framed photograph.
Her father stood beside a young Adrian.
Both men were laughing.
“You never showed me this.”
“You never asked.”
She turned.
“I didn't know you knew him.”
“I knew him better than I knew my father.”
That answer surprised her.
They searched the house.
Nothing.
Then Paige remembered something.
The basement.
Her father had forbidden her from going there as a child.
She opened the door.
Adrian followed.
The basement was unfinished.
Concrete floor.
Old shelves.
A workbench.
Paige walked to the far wall.
“This is it.”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
“My father used to stand here.”
She touched a section of brick.
He helped her remove it.
Behind it was a steel box.
Adrian opened it.
Inside were bank records.
A flash drive.
A handwritten journal.
And a letter addressed to Adrian.
He opened it.
You will hate me for this.
Adrian read silently.
Then handed it to Paige.
She read.
I know you will fall in love with my daughter.
Paige looked up sharply.
Adrian's expression was unreadable.
The letter continued.
You will deny it because you think love is dangerous.
You will protect her by staying away.
You will eventually fail.
And when that happens, don't let your fear become another cage for her.
Paige felt tears in her eyes.
Her father had known him.
Really known him.
He had known the man's worst instincts before Adrian even understood them.
Another line stopped her.
If she ever becomes pregnant with your child, the second archive must be opened.
Paige looked at Adrian.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“My father planned this.”
“No.”
He shook his head.
“Your father anticipated it.”
“What's the second archive?”
He looked at the flash drive.
“Maybe this.”
They connected it to a laptop.
Files appeared.
Financial reports.
Emails.
Photographs.
One folder marked PRIVATE.
Inside was a video.
Paige clicked it.
Her father appeared.
He looked older.
Tired.
But calm.
“If you're watching this, then the person Adrian fears has returned.”
Paige's heart raced.
“The ledger isn't evidence of what my father did.”
“It is evidence of what Marcus Voss did.”
Adrian looked sharply at the screen.
“He betrayed both families.”
Robert continued.
“He created shell companies and used them to move money through legitimate firms.”
“Jonathan Vale discovered the scheme.”
“He wanted to expose Voss.”
“But Voss killed him before he could.”
Paige stared.
Her father was saying Adrian's father had not been the mastermind.
He had been trying to stop one.
“And Adrian,” Robert continued, “believed his father was guilty.”
Paige looked at Adrian.
“That was a lie?”
“Yes.”
Robert's voice softened.
“My daughter, you need to understand something. Adrian has spent half his life carrying guilt that belongs to other people.”
The screen paused.
Then another recording began.
It showed Adrian at twenty-four.
Standing outside a warehouse.
His father approached.
“I did what you asked.”
Adrian looked furious.
“You told me Robert was dead.”
“I said he was handled.”
“You lied.”
“You should learn to stop caring.”
The video ended.
Paige stared at Adrian.
“You saw this?”
“No.”
“You didn't know your father recorded you.”
“No.”
A noise came from upstairs.
They froze.
Someone was in the house.
Adrian handed Paige the drive.
“Hide.”
“No.”
“Paige.”
“I am done hiding.”
He moved toward the stairs.
A voice echoed from above.
“That's exactly what your father said.”
Paige froze.
The voice belonged to a man.
Older.
Calm.
Familiar from the recording.
Marcus Voss.
Adrian raised his weapon.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Voss appeared at the top of the staircase.
“I was.”
“You've been using another identity.”
“I've used several.”
“Why come here?”
Voss looked at Paige.
“Because her father left me one thing I never found.”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
His smile widened.
“The baby.”
Adrian's face turned cold.
“You will not touch her.”
Voss laughed.
“You still think she's the target.”
Paige stepped forward.
“What do you want?”
“I want the archive your father left.”
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
“How?”
Voss pointed at her stomach.
“Because Robert knew that if you and Adrian ever had a child, your child would inherit the trust.”
Paige frowned.
“What trust?”
“The one controlling every account, every company and every piece of evidence your father hid.”
Adrian looked at him.
“That's impossible.”
Voss smiled.
“You really don't know.”
“What?”
“Your wife is the controlling beneficiary of the Mercer-Vale trust.”
Paige felt numb.
Adrian had never told her.
Voss stepped backward.
“Ask your lawyer.”
Then the lights went out.
When they came back on, he was gone.
Paige turned to Adrian.
“How much more?”
“What?”
“How much more don't I know?”
He looked devastated.
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“You were.”
She wiped her eyes.
“But you were also making every decision for me.”
He nodded.
“I know.”
“Then no more.”
“No more.”
She held up the flash drive.
“We end this together.”
Adrian took her hand.
“Yes.”
And neither noticed the second figure hiding outside the house.
A woman watching through the trees.
May you like
A woman who had once loved Adrian Vale.
A woman who knew exactly how to destroy him.
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